There's Something Curious About Paternal-Age Effects

Gene mutation rates are higher in males than in females and increase with paternal age. In his Perspective, Crow explains unexpected results from a study of a congenital disease called Apert9s syndrome in which the likelihood of a child developing the disease increases with the age of the father ( Goriely et al .). The results of the new work imply that rather than sperm having a higher mutation rate, the harmful mutation may be positively selected perhaps because it confers some benefit within the cellular environment of the testis.